Forget redrawing constituency boundaries, just implement proportional representation, writes
Alan Fowler. Plus letters from
Phil Tate and
David Nowell
âThe fact remains that, due to the distortions of our first past the post voting system, these changes will do nothing whatsoever to correct the absurdity of the existing democratic deficit.â Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty
âThe fact remains that, due to the distortions of our first past the post voting system, these changes will do nothing whatsoever to correct the absurdity of the existing democratic deficit.â Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty
Letters
Wed 9 Jun 2021 12.35 EDT
Last modified on Wed 9 Jun 2021 12.37 EDT
Electoral demographics are changing dramatically and yet the Boundary Commission is busily shuffling deckchairs while the ship of democracy lies becalmed (UK electoral officials announce biggest shake-up of boundaries in decades, 8 June).
Some 9% of business leaders expect their companies not to continue if Chancellor Rishi Sunak does not announce further support in the Budget next week (Wednesday 3 March), according to research.
The CGA Business Leaders’ Survey 2021, which was sponsored by Fourth and conducted in collaboration with UKHospitality, the British Beer & Pub Association and the British Institute of Innkeeping included 726 respondents.
Additionally, just over a third (37%) stated their businesses could return to profit this year without new support.
However, there were levels of optimism in the survey with about half (51%) stated they were confident about prospects for the sector over the next year – more than three times the number who felt that way in November last year (14%).
One in 10 hospitality firms won t survive without support thespiritsbusiness.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thespiritsbusiness.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
British pubs and restaurants lost £200m a day in 2020 as Covid battered business
Shocking figures suggest the nation s hospitality industry lost £72billion in 2020 compared to the previous 12 months. Industry chiefs pleaded for fresh government support
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New data has shown that turnover for the hospitality sector last year dropped by almost £72b, equivalent to nearly £200m a day or £8m per hour in lost sales.
Turnover for the sector in 2020 was less than half that in 2019.
UKHospitality and CGA s Quarterly Tracker saw a 54% drop in sales, which collapsed from £133.5b in 2019 to £61.7b in 2020.
Strict local and national restrictions on trading caused a particularly damaging drop in trade in the final quarter of the year, with sales from October to December worth just £14.3b, down £18.7b or 57% on the last quarter of 2019.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: These figures are simply devastating; hospitality was hit first, hit hardest and continues to suffer because of pandemic restrictions. And sitting behind this massive loss of revenue is the dreadful, real impact on people s lives and livelihoods across all parts of the sector and supply chain. It is also yet another stark reminder of the importance of